Drama, intrigue, heartbreak — just another day in the WAC

EDIT, 11/21, 1 p.m.: Just got some clarification on the NCAA rules regarding conference membership and the men’s basketball tournament.

There is apparently some sort of legislation on the table, which could be adopted as early as January, that would wipe the “six-for-five” rule off the books. Though WAC commissioner Karl Benson told me about an hour ago he expects the legislation will pass, a Division I-A official told Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, “I can’t imagine that would get through.”

To illustrate how obscure and complex these rules are, UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey — a member of the men’s tournament selection committee — was unclear of what all the stipulations are regarding conference membership. Even Benson, during our talk at around noon, said he’d have to brush up before his Monday teleconference.

So, until I get concrete, tangible confirmation from the NCAA — I’ve probably got a better chance winning the lottery, but I’ll keep trying — I’m going to stick with what I’ve read and been told: barring any new legislation or other help from the NCAA, the WAC will lose its automatic men’s berth at the end of a two-year grace period in 2014.

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At the very least, this won’t be a boring ride…

That was the thought of one of my readers, assessing UTSA’s membership in the Western Athletic Conference. Truer words have never been spoken.

The bigger question is, how long is the ride going to last?

If the NCAA applies its rules to the letter of the law, possibly not long.

According to one critical line in the Association’s voluminous rulebook, conferences must retain a core of six schools with five years of continuous membership to retain an automatic berth to the men’s basketball tournament.

At least, that’s the way it reads to me, and has been portrayed in numerous news outlets. The NCAA’s fine print reads like tax codes, and neither me or my colleague Jerry Briggs have been able to get triple-check verification, just to make completely sure.

Why does any of that matter?

WAC commissioner Karl Benson insisted in an internal e-mail to remaining members that Hawaii’s imminent departure to the Mountain West Conference isn’t official. Just like it wasn’t “official” that UTSA had been invited to join until it was publicly announced.

But with Hawaii officials all but doing cartwheels and popping champagne at yesterday’s press conference to announce that discussions were underway, it’s safe to assume that the Western’s longest-standing member is as good as gone. Which would leave the league with only five schools with continuous membership, a deficiency even 20 new additions won’t fix.

So unless the WAC can get some sort of waiver, the league’s automatic NCAA tourament berth will evaporate once a two-year grace period expires. The league wouldn’t automatically disband as a result, but considering such berths are among the main reasons conferences even exist in the first place, it would lose a huge amount of luster.

There’s also the requirement of eight schools for Football Bowl Subdivision membership, but that should be easier — and I use that term extremely loosely — to fill as it doesn’t appear to have any stipulation on continuous membership. And that’s not even getting into all the bowl ties and TV revenue that will probably dry up once the WAC completes its metamorphasis into the Sun Belt II.

How will all this impact UTSA’s decision to join the WAC?

According to those I spoke to Friday afternoon, it’s still all systems go, no matter what — even at the expense of a tournament berth. That seems hard to believe, but as one person said, “What are we going to do, go back to the Southland?” Good point, but Southland schools at least have a chance to play in the Big Dance, which the WAC might not be able to say in the extremely near future.

At the very least, athletic director Lynn Hickey said she’s going to wait for all the dust to settle and see what all her options are. Until then, she said, “We’re very excited to have an opportunity to join this group.”

Here’s a sunny-side up, optimistic projection: The NCAA grants the WAC a hardship waiver, as most of the remaining WAC schools probably won’t have anywhere to go should the league dissolve, through no fault of their own. I haven’t been able to confirm this — damn you, Google — but I want to say that the Mountain West Conference got a similar waiver when it formed back in 1999.

Get that, and in a strange way the WAC might be able to benefit from Hawaii’s departure. Obviously, no amount of spin can sooth the pain of losing its most attractice program and only real television draw. No matter what, it’s going to be a huge blow. But, as I wrote last night, this might actually be an opportunity for the league to reinvent itself in a more geographically sound way, with no more 8,000-mile round trips just to play a softball game.

Who knows? You might see something wild like a WAC-Sun Belt merger. I know — sexy. But right now, UTSA can’t worry about anything but stability, and having a place to develop its potential before moving on to something bigger and better. That’s the best case.

And the worst? The WAC fractures for good and the Roadrunners are marooned, a program without a home. I don’t think there’s much chance this will happen. But in this environment, with major changes taking place seemingly every time you log on to the web, you never know. So buckle up.

(This almost seems trivial at this point, considering there might not even be a WAC. But all this pretty much destroys any chance the Roadrunners had to preclude their football entry until 2013. That was contingent on the WAC adding another school. Now it would take at least two — and candidates aren’t exactly blowing up Benson’s phone.)

NOTE — To leave you all on a more positive note, just got a tip that the Roadrunners have received their 12th commitment, from Klein Forest defensive end Kristian Bryant. Have yet to talk to either him or his coach, so I’m not going to print this just yet. In the meantime, check out his extremely meager profile at Rivals.com.